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Thursday, June 30, 2011

When people think of summer they think of bright vibrant colors, such as orange, pink, green, and purple. Make sure you aren’t doing too many colors because then your wedding day may look like a parade. You want to stick with no more than two primary colors. For example you can do a natural color with a bright green which will make the green pop.

Trend 2: Personalized Theme

Is there a special memory you'd like to incorporate into the wedding? I am seeing more and more wedding wear the bride and groom display childhood memory photos.

Trend 3: Beyond Wedding Cakes

Why do that boring old white wedding cake? Instead of a cake do a tower of cupcakes. Dessert bars are all the frenzy - cookie bar, ice cream sundae bar or pie bar - your guests will love the variety. Add a candy bar and you've got all areas covered. Don't forget the goody bags so guests can take some home!

Trend 4: Bright Colors = Bright Wedding Accessories

It's all about color, so why not the shoes? Add a little color and sparkle that gives a fun, unexpected ingredient.

Trend 5: Eco-Friendly Favors

We are all thinking about the environment these days, so why not use your wedding to give back. Some fun favors are local herb in a tint can or a jar of honey. Something guests will use rather than tossing into that “everything” drawer. Selecting a charity you feel passionate about is also a great way to give back.

Monday, June 27, 2011

It’s confession time! I’ll admit it. I am an obsessive do-it-yourself-er. I am an amateur at some things and an expert at others. I can do just about anything given enough time and internet access on the particular subject. I am also heavily opinionated about when to do it yourself and when to call in the professionals. There are just some things that are not a good idea. Weddings, in particular are one of those times.

The months, weeks and days leading up to your wedding are extremely busy. Most women have to work and plan this event in their free time (free time, what is that?). There is barely time to sleep so taking on an extra task is unthinkable to most brides-to-be.

However, there are some couples faced with wanting or needing to cut costs so fanatically that they decide to attempt the Do-It-Yourself wedding. I can tell you this has disaster written all over it.

DIY nightmares:

#1 -Bridesmaid Dresses. Sewing is easy, you get a pattern, cut it out, thread the needle and begin, right? NO. Sewing properly is an art form not to be taken lightly. Sewing delicate fabrics requires patience, skill and concentration. Unless you are a professional seamstress with your own studio filled with eager employees, do not attempt to make your own bridesmaid gowns. You will not only be disappointed when the gown don’t turn out right but, you also risk having bridesmaids who will never speak to you again.

#2 -Flowers. This has the potential to be a major disaster. Imagine staying up all night, the night before your wedding day clipping flower stems and ribbon-tying bouquets. That’s a best-case scenario and it goes downhill quickly from there. Ask yourself if you have a cooling system large enough to house the completed centerpieces and bouquets. You can’t put them in your refrigerator at home because there are natural gases in food that will destroy the flowers, not to mentions flower arranging is very difficult and time consuming if done properly. Ask yourself if you will truly have time to enjoy your wedding week if every second of the last three days is spent focusing on flower pick up, purchasing and arranging only to wind up with an arrangement of half dead flowers. I doubt it.

#3 – Photo/Video. So you have decided to just put single use cameras on the table and let everyone take photos at the reception? Really? (Remember my previous post on this?) Maybe you handed a cam-corder to your uncle and asked him to tape the whole thing. Maybe it would be a better idea to have everyone hold up their cell phones and snap random pictures out of focus with bad lighting. Or you could just have a courtroom sketch artist depict the whole affair. Hire a photographer, even if it is just for an official portrait…. hire a photographer.

#4- Cake. Speaking from experience, decorating a cake is not easy. Martha Stewart seems to show up, squirt icing on the cake and it looks fantastic. The truth is that she had years of rigid training, attention to detail and only now after decades of hand-piping by herself in the confines of her own kitchen; she has a staff to handle this for her. Her staff has been trained and re-trained and practiced on more cakes than you can eat in a lifetime. In all fairness, they do make it look easy on TV. Don’t attempt to make your own cake. Not to mention the added concern of transporting without dropping it. You would be better off buying a cheap cake at the grocery store than attempting to make one yourself. I’m not wrong about this.

In the end, it is the actual ceremony that matters the most but, why waste time and money trying to do it yourself only to have a failure weeks, hours or even minutes before the ceremony?

There are a few things you can do yourself. You can print or make labels for your favors, you can carefully arrange and/or wrap the favors that will be sent home, you can also cut and tie the netting or paper rice holders, if you are having rice thrown at your wedding. Other than that, I would advise against any attempt at handling these tasks yourself.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

So you have started planning your dream wedding and it is time to get the guest in the loop with all the planning.

Save the dates are pre-invitation mailings that officially announce your wedding date and gives the guests a heads up that they will be invited to the wedding.

The question I hear often is, "Do we have to send save the dates?"

Well there is no right or wrong answer but the point of the save the dates are to ensure that your guests will be able to attend your celebration. Giving your guests this advanced notice will help them when planning out their schedules. Now if you are having a destination wedding, I would say a save the date is a must. You have to allow your guest to prepare for travel accommodations. This would be a courtesy to them.

Save the dates should be sent out about 6 months prior to the event (8 months prior for a destination wedding).

Note: You don't have to spend tons of money on your save the dates. This is a great do-it-yourself project. You can find tons of free templates online. If you are more daring you can look online for ideas and create your own from scratch using a word processor or Photoshop. Making your save the dates yourself adds a more personal touch to your event.

All this talk of Save the Dates, reminds me that I need to share a date with you! Please mark your calendars for this awesome bridal event.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Remember going to weddings and finding those disposable cameras on every table. These were meant for the guest to take pictures of the party through out the night. Guest were then to leave the used cameras on the table for the bride and groom to get printed off. Well I don't know about you, but I tried this at my wedding, we even bought the disposable one that had flash so that the pictures would not be dark. WRONG! None of our guest took the time to use the flash and we ended up wasting our money on dark crazy photos.

Well that is a thing of the past. The new thing is to set up a photo sharing website where your guest can add their pictures that they took (from their cameras) on your special day!

To tell your guests about your photo sharing website provide little cards (about the size of a business card) at each place setting with all the info. Vista Print is a great affordable site to use for creating and printing these cards.

You don't have to follow this word by word but here is an easy guide of what to explain to your guest:
To upload your Photos:
1. Go to (Photo Sharing Website, like flickr.com) Click Sign in
2. Enter Username and Password (provide this on the card)
3. Click upload photos
4. Choose photos from your computer
5. Click upload photos
And your done!

All your guest can login to view all the pictures and even order printed copies with out having to contact the bride and groom.

Sometimes it can take awhile to get your pro photos, so this will hopefully will make the wait a little easier.